New data from The Harris Poll suggests that over half of Gen Z experiences “weekend loneliness” because they simply can’t afford to go out.
In a survey of 4,100 American adults conducted in May and June, The Harris Poll found that the harsh economic climate is keeping the younger generations at home because they can’t afford to go out. Nearly three-quarters of those polled who identify as Gen Z (603 people) said they spend their weekend time at home—and it’s not just for self-care.
According to The Harris Poll, 68% of Gen Z said going out isn’t “worth the damage it does to my wallet,” while 62% avoid making weekend plans altogether to avoid spending money and feeling regret the next day.
Over half—51% of those 603 Gen Z adults—report weekend loneliness. That’s the highest of any generation and 37% higher than Boomers, who came in at only 14%.
“We call it placing financial regret over FOMO,” said Libby Rodney, Chief Strategy Officer at The Harris Poll. “It isn’t the physical connection of things [that Gen Z is avoiding]; it’s just financial.”
Indeed, as Reid Litman wrote in Ogilvy Consulting’s Gen Z Pulse report, it’s not Gen Z that’s hypocritical: “They’re navigating new contradictions created by modern life.”
“They are the first ones to get laid off and the least likely to get hired after graduating college,” Rodney said. “Everything is kind of hitting them simultaneously at the same time. They are feeling like they have to be fiscally responsible. And so they’re trading their kind of social connection and their social health for financial health.”
That said, Litman noted that there was also a physical component, a sentiment with which Rodney agreed. Many of the structures that the generations before them have enjoyed have been removed; Gen Z has grown up being pushed toward screens and online third spaces instead of unsupervised physical spaces.
Rodney cited data showing that 75% of kids aged 8 to 12 are allowed to play on Roblox, while only 25% of children in that same age group are allowed to play in their own front yards. This, she says, translates to young adulthood, where public spaces are increasingly designed to discourage “unmonetized gathering.”
“[Gen Z is] really having a hard time connecting in places that aren’t capitalized or monetized around them,” said Rodney.
Add to that a global pandemic that hit while they were still in school and continued economic uncertainty, and you end up with a generation that defaults to staying in.
